Have you ever been frustrated with a breakdown in communication? Maybe you are working from different vocabularies, I assure you my Midwest husband does not want his coffee in the microwave when he asks me to “warm up” his mug. This Southern girl has come to learn that phrase means he wants a refill. Maybe communication is breaking down because the urge to be polite is overriding true feelings. There are so many reasons why we end up disconnected from those we love the most. One of the best pieces of relationship advice I was ever given was to use scales to back up communication efforts. When faced with needing to make a decision and the words are failing, offering a 1-10 scale can provide clarity.
“I think the roof could use some attention.” Might, at first, appear as a passing comment, but if I ask my husband, “On a 1-10 how urgent is the roof situation?” And I hear back, “Solid 8.” Now I understand the true urgency behind his original statement. Sometimes this scale system helps in very serious things when emotions are high and topics are difficult. Sometimes it helps my own clarity to surface for me as well as my husband. Sometimes, we are just silly.
“Ok, we need to get out the door. The doors open at 6pm.”
“Do you want to go?”
“Of course…”
“Ok, give it to me, 1-10, how much do you want to go to this thing?”
“Umm…like a 2…”
“Okay, then. How about we get ice cream and watch a movie instead? Can you give me a 1-10 on that?” “10, 10! Full 10! I want chocolate chip cookie dough and an action movie!”
“Haha, ok let’s do it!”
Now, do we use the scale all the time? No. Is it a useful tool? Absolutely. If we used it more consistently, would we begin to learn more about each other? For sure! I intend to work on my end to use this tool with more intentionality and consistency. Hey, I get chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and an engaged husband who feels heard! There is no downside!
If I could give you some classroom advice, I have some scales and monitoring tools to recommend. From communicating preferences to progress toward proficiency Personalized Learning offers some tools for the classroom to increase student engagement and investment. Take some time to review these and consider how you could integrate some clarity and open communication into your classrooms.
Proficiency Scales – Pushing past the limitations of rubrics and reaching for the clarity of a Proficiency Scale for both content and metacognitive skills, as described in A Handbook for Personalized Competency-Based Education, by Marzano et al. (2017). To quote the Marzano Resources website’s Tips from Dr. Marzano, from the book Proficiency Scales for the New Science of Standards: A Framework for Science Instruction and Assessment: “A proficiency scale, in simplest terms, represents a progression of learning goals with three levels of difficulty: (1) the target (level 3.0) content; (2) the simpler (level 2.0) content; and (3) the more complex (level 4.0) content.”
- Content Skills – tracking and gauging the progression students are making towards specific content area skills and standards. Take a moment to review this fabulous example of Proficiency Scales for K-8 Content areas by the Education department under the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
- Metacognitive Skills – tacking and gauging the progression students are making towards specific skills for evaluating, problem-solving, and high-order thinking. Marzano discusses how these skills can be introduced at varying levels, while most are maintained over the course of a lifetime in A Handbook for Personalized Competency-Based Education (2017).
- Checklist for using Proficiency Scales, by Marzano.
Classroom Codes of Conduct and Self-Assessments – working together students and teachers craft a code of conduct and classroom behavior expectations. As everyone has a hand in developing the code and expectations there is a higher level of buy-in from students, rather than handing down a lofty set of rules and regulations in which they had no voice. Marzano makes the added suggestion that students engage by self-assessing their progress toward meeting the code and expectations of the class. This can be done individually, and the teacher can track the progress of the whole class towards the tenants of the code and expectations. This is discussed in the 2nd chapter of A Handbook for Personalized Competency-Based Education (2017).
Goal Setting – Goal setting is an invaluable life skill. Once they have learned how to set SMART goals then we can teach them to track their progress with Proficiency Scales. Students can track goals towards more areas than content alone: leadership, behavior, and athletic skills are all viable areas for goal setting and tracking.
A few quick methods of monitoring that also allow for student voices to be heard…
I hope you found some tools you can use in your classroom; from clear communication, to tracking student progress, to introducing students to the life skill of setting and tracking goals. It is my heartfelt belief that when educators are lifelong learners, we are off to the right start towards tackling the issues we face daily. The elements of Personalized Learning offer an opportunity for educators and students to regain their footing after the long haul we have endured since 2020. Keep your chin up and keep filling your toolbox, I believe in you.
Teaching Hands 
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